POLITICS OF MEXICO
Instructor: Professor Paul Haber
Political Science Department, course #327
Summer 2009 (in Mexico)
Meets Monday and Wednesday 8:30 – 10:30
redbeard_mt@yahoo.com
Required texts (available at the University Bookstore):
Stephen Haber, Herbert Klein, Noel Maurer, and Kevin Middlebrook, Mexico Since 1980. Cambridge
University Press, 2008.
Sam Quinones, Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream: True Tales of Mexican Migration. University of New
Mexico Press, 2007.
This is a seminar class on contemporary Mexico. The first book we read by Haber et al (no relation) is
designed to introduce you to Mexico, particularly to its political economy. The second book is a study of
Mexican migration and other dimensions of cultural life in Mexico by literary journalist Sam Quinones.
Students are required to come to each class having read all the required reading for that day carefully. Graduate
students are required to read the suggested articles (or some proportion of them, details forthcoming); they are
optional for undergraduate students unless announced otherwise. Students should expect to answer questions
from the instructor related to the reading and to bring questions and comments of your own. It is not possible to
do well in this class without a willingness to participate thoughtfully in our conversations. I am happy to help
students to develop strategies to improve their class participation, and may come to you with suggestions.
However, you are ultimate responsibility for finding and developing your voice is yours. Students are
encouraged to do as much of the reading before class begins in Mexico as possible and then to re-read and take
additional notes as it is assigned during the program.
Grades will be based on the student’s ability to demonstrate to the instructor that the material has been
read thoroughly and thoughtfully. This will be measured in several ways: class participation and homework
(50%) and two oral exams (25% each).
Sustainability Theme:
The theme for the 2009 Mexico Study Abroad Program is sustainability. There is no one right way to define
this term. However, for the purposes of an assignment for this class I will offer the following definition for
sustainable practices: Sustainable practices are cultural, economic, political, and social behaviors that preserve
and promote healthy life in the present and for seven generations hence.
There are two assignments for this class. Consider the questions that follow the instruction to identify and
observe to be suggestions to get you started. Feel free to change them.
1) Identify and observe a sustainable practice in or around Pátzcuaro. What makes is a sustainable practice?
How do you measure its importance? How did it come to be? What sustains the practice? Has the practice
overcome obstacles in the past? Do you perceive threats to the sustainability of this sustainable practice today
or in the future?
2) Identify and observe a non-sustainable practice in or around Pátzcuaro. What makes it an unsustainable
practice? How do you measure its importance? How did it come to be? Why is this unsustainable practice
occurring? Can you identify efforts by people to end the practice in the past? What happened? Can you
imagine ways that people might be able to end or reform this practice in the future?
Reading Assignments and Exam schedule:
June 22 Mexico Since 1980, chapters 1-2
Suggested Readings (strongly suggested for basic background): Nora Hamilton, “Mexico” in Harry Vanden and
Gary Prevost, Politics of Latin America: The Power Game, pp. 300-337 Oxford University Press, 2008.
Available on blackboard.
Paul Haber, "Import Substitution Industrialization," in Michael Werner, ed., Encyclopedia of Mexico: History,
Society & Culture. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998. Available on blackboard.
Paul Haber, "Neoliberalism," in Michael Werner, ed., Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture.
Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998. Available on blackboard.
June 24
June 29
July 1
July 6
July 8
July 15
July 20
July 22
July 27
July 29
Mexico Since 1980, chapters 3-4
Mexico Since 1980, chapter 5
Mexico Since 1980, chapters 6-7
Quinones, Introduction and chapters 1 and 2
Oral Exam #1
Quinones, chapters 3 and 4
Quinones, chapters 5 and 6
Quinones, chapters 7 and 8
Quinones, chapter 9 and Epilogue
Oral Exam #2
Suggested Readings
--Three very short articles (about 10 pages total) available at
http://www.iaf.gov/publications/Journal/2006_27_1_en/IAF_GrassrootsDev27.1.06.pdf
1. Jonathan Fox, Migration and Development: Encounters and Disconnects
2. Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, Xóchitl Bada and Luis Escala-Rabadán, The Universe of Hometown Associations in the
United States
3. Dan Gordon, Local Heroes: How Mexican Immigrants Improve Living Conditions Back Home
--The following two books are both good introductions to Mexico and are suggested for those that want to get some
background before getting to Mexico:
Alicia Hernández Chávez, Mexico: A Brief History. University of California Press, 2006.
Daniel Levy and Kathleen Bruhn with Emilio Zebadúa, Mexico: The Struggle for Democratic Development. Second
Edition. University of California Press, 2006.
--Don Jafee, “Introduction” in Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and Survival. University of California
Press, 2007.
--Wayne Cornelius and David Shirk, editors. Reforming the Administration of Justice in Mexico. University of Notre
Dame Press, 2007. Selections.
--Frances Abrahamer Rothstein, Globalization in Rural Mexico. University of Texas Press, 2007.
--Sam Quinones, “State of War” in Foreign Policy Mar/Apr2009 Issue 171, p76-80
Also, long interview with Quinones,
http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=Pe1e64650abd9c469457cf5eb287f61e7Ylt%2BRlREYGV2&buffer=5&fc=FF
FFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&autoplay=1&brand=1&player=ap21
--Trade Liberalization and Economic Integration in the Americas: Causes and Consequences
Diego Sánchez-Ancochea Latin American Politics & Society 48.2 (Summer 2006) 171-180
-- John Gibler, “Mexico's Ghost Towns; The other side of the immigration debate” In These Times, June 2008, pp. 28-30.
--Steven A. Camarota, Immigrants at Mid-Decade: A Snapshot of America's Foreign-Born Population in 2005. Center
for Immigration Studies, December 2005.
-- David Leonhardt, “Counting Heads: The Border and the Ballot Box” New York Times, March 2, 2008.
--Susan Ferriss - sferriss@sacbee.com, “Prison rates far lower for immigrants, study finds” Sacramento Bee, February 26,
2008.
--Lee Hudson Teslik, “NAFTA’s Economic Impact” Center for Foreign Relations, March 2008. The article is fairly
short, but there are links to longer studies, including the widely cited book, “NAFTA Revisited”.
--Matthew Gutmann, The Meanings of Macho: Being a Man in Mexico City. University of California Press, 1996.
--Matthew Gutmann, The Romance of Democracy: Compliant Defiance in Contemporary Mexico. University of
California Press, 2002.
--J. Edward Taylor, “Remittances, Savings, and Development in Migrant-Sending Areas,” in Douglas S. Massey and J.
Edward Taylor eds., International Migration: Prospects and Policies in a Global Market, (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2004), pp. 165-69. This section discusses Michoacán.
Articles on the persistence of clientelism:
Unknown Author (I peer reviewed the article for Latin American Politics & Society), “Overcoming Clientelism Through
Local Participatory Institutions in Mexico: What Type of Participation?” 2009.
Claudio Holzner, “The Poverty of Democracy: Neoliberal Reforms and Political Participation of the Poor in Mexico”
Latin American Politics & Society 49.2 (2007) 87-122
Tina Hilgers, “Causes and Consequences of Political Clientelism: Mexico's PRD in Comparative Perspective” Latin
American Politics and Society 50:4 (2008) 123-153. Available on Blackboard.
Garcia-Guadilla, Maria Pilar, and Carlos Perez. "Democracy, Decentralization and Clientelism: New Relationships, Old
Practices." Latin American Perspectives 29, no. 5 (2002): 90-109.
Harbers, Imke. "Democratic Deepening in Third Wave Democracies: Experiments with Participation in Mexico City."
Political Studies 55 (2007): 38-58.